California wildfires: Fire chief says dozens of major blazes have state in ‘dire situation’
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More than two dozen large wildfires raging across California after an extreme heat wave have created a “dire situation,” Thom Porter, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Tuesday.
“It is really one to behold. We have now, as of this morning, 25 major fires. We’ve had an additional, at least, two that have occurred just in the day today,” Porter told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
Cal Fire said earlier that more than 2.2 million acres have been scorched across the Golden State so far this year, a state record. According to Porter, many of the fires will continue to grow and remain “uncontrollable until we have a weather change.”
“We have fires burning in the north part of the state all the way down to the Mexican border, about 800 miles between the furthest distant fires, so we’re stretched across the landscape,” Porter said of his crews.
The Creek Fire racing through the mountains of Central California is being fueled by dead trees and has grown to more than 143,000 acres and destroyed an estimated 60 homes.
“We have 150 million trees that died in the southern Sierra several years ago, and those are fueling the Creek Fire, which is the biggest and most concerning fire to us right now,” he said.
Three firefighters were hurt, one critically, while battling the Dolan Fire in California’s central coast. They suffered burns and smoke inhalation and were taken to a Fresno hospital, said Chris Barth of the Bureau of Land Management.
Almost 400 airlifted to safety
The California Army National Guard colonel in charge of rescuing Sierra National Forest visitors from the fast-moving Creek Fire told CNN on Tuesday airlifts are going extremely well.
Col. David Hall told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that about 385 people and 27 animals have been rescued over the past few days.
Helicopter crews Tuesday airlifted at least 148 people who had been trapped by the Creek Fire, one of many wildfires that rage in the Golden State when scorching weather conditions threaten even more.
Tuesday’s rescues, which also took 16 dogs to safety, came after hundreds of other people were airlifted from the forest over the weekend.
“There are definitely a lot of challenges floating out there. The biggest thing is this fire ended up escalating very rapidly,” Hall said.
He said backpackers, campers and hikers needed to be taken out by helicopter because the fire had or could overrun paths to safety.
Some of the people airflifted from the forest by the National Guard arrive at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport on Tuesday.
California National Guard
It wasn’t immediately clear how many more people were awaiting help.
“The people in remote areas are not considered to be … in any immediate danger. They are simply in spots that are sometimes unable to be accessed other than by helicopter,” Fresno County sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti told CNN.
A home is engulfed in flames in the Tollhouse area of unincorporated Fresno County early Tuesday.
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The Creek Fire has forced evacuations in Madera and Fresno counties. The fire is an “unprecedented disaster” for Fresno County, US Forest Service Supervisor Dean Gould said Monday, adding that while major wildfires have occurred in the area before, this fire is the “most aggressive of any of those.”
Firefighters look out over a burning hillside as they fight the Blue Ridge Fire in Yorba Linda, California, on Monday, October 26.
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A man evacuates his home as flames from the Blue Ridge Fire approach in Chino Hills, California, on Tuesday, October 27.
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Firefighters conduct a backfire operation in Chino Hills on October 27.
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A firefighter uses a hose as the Silverado Fire approaches near Irvine, California.
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Firefighter Raymond Vasquez battles the Silverado Fire in Irvine on Monday, October 26.
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Flames rise from mountain ridges near a farmstead as a wildfire burns near Granby, Colorado, on Thursday, October 22.
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Evacuees drive through a traffic jam exiting Big Thompson Canyon as the East Troublesome Fire forced residents out of Estes Park, Colorado, on October 22.
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Structures burned by the Cal-Wood Fire are seen in Boulder County, Colorado, on October 18.
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Flames from the Cameron Peak Fire, the largest wildfire in Colorado history, work their way along a ridge outside Estes Park on October 16.
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An airplane drops fire retardant on the Bruder Fire in Redlands, California, on October 15.
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Dr. Alex Herman, right, and veterinary technician Linden West examine Captain Cal, a 6-week-old mountain lion cub recovering from severe burn injuries at the Oakland Zoo Hospital in Oakland, California. The zoo later took in two more cubs rescued from the same fire.
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Burned bottles of wine sit in a pile at the Castello di Amorosa winery, which was destroyed by the Glass Fire in Calistoga, California, on October 1. Wildfires have damaged and destroyed dozens of the region's famed wineries, many of them family-owned businesses.
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A firefighter walks along a path as the Glass Fire burns in Calistoga, California, on October 1.
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Vehicles burned in the Glass Fire sit outside of a home that survived in Calistoga on September 30.
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The remains of guest houses smolder at Calistoga Ranch after the Glass Fire passed through on September 30.
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Firefighter Abraham Garcia signals a water truck in Angwin, California, on September 29.
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Firefighters watch the Glass Fire slowly creep across a clearing near Calistoga on September 29.
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Damaged wine barrels sit stacked at the Fairwinds Estate Winery in Calistoga on September 29.
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The Glass Fire burns in the background as Josh Asbury, an employee of CableCom, installs fiber-optic cable in Calistoga on September 28.
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Residents of the Oakmont Gardens senior home are transported to safety as the Shady Fire approaches in Santa Rosa on September 28.
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Cellar worker Jose Juan Perez extinguishes hotspots at Castello di Amorosa, a Calistoga winery that was damaged in the Glass Fire.
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An officer with Napa County Animal Control rescues a cat after the Glass Fire passed through Napa Valley, California, on September 28.
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The Glass Fire burns on a Napa County mountainside on September 28.
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Flames from the Glass Fire consume the Black Rock Inn in St. Helena, California, on September 27.
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Embers fly from a tree as the Glass Fire burns in St. Helena on September 27.
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An air tanker drops fire retardant on the Glass Fire, which was burning near the Davis Estates winery in Calistoga on September 27.
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Cal Fire Capt. Jesse Campbell works to save the Louis Stralla Water Treatment Plant as the Glass Fire burns in St. Helena.
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A photograph of Charles Morton, a firefighter killed battling the El Dorado Fire, is displayed at a memorial service in San Bernardino, California, on September 25. Morton, 39, was a 14-year veteran of the US Forest Service and a squad boss with the Big Bear Hotshot Crew of the San Bernardino National Forest.
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An inmate firefighter takes a break while working to contain the Bear Fire in Oroville, California, on September 24.
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Inmate firefighters extinguish hot spots while working to contain the Bear Fire on September 24.
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The Bobcat Fire burns near Cedar Springs, California, on September 21.
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Wildfire smoke rises in Medicine Bow National Forest in southeastern Wyoming on September 21.
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A deer looks for food in an area burned by the Bobcat Fire in Pearblossom, California.
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A woman takes photos as the Bobcat Fire burns in Juniper Hills, California, on September 18.
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Wind whips embers from Joshua trees burned by the Bobcat Fire in Juniper Hills on September 18.
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Firefighter Kirk McDusky walks past smoke rising from the Brattain Fire in Paisley, Oregon, on September 18.
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A Juniper Hills home burns during the Bobcat Fire on September 18.
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A firefighter battles the Bobcat Fire while defending the Mount Wilson observatory in Los Angeles on September 17.
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Stacey Kahny fixes her hair inside her tent at the evacuation center at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Central Point, Oregon, on September 16. Kahny lived with her parents at a trailer park in Phoenix, Oregon, that was destroyed by fire.
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A charred yearbook lies in the debris as Fred Skaff and his son Thomas clean up their home in Phoenix, Oregon, on September 16.
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In this aerial photo taken with a drone, red fire retardant sits on leveled homes in Talent, Oregon, on September 15.
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A firefighter works at the scene of the Bobcat Fire burning on hillsides near Monrovia, California, on September 15.
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President Donald Trump listens as California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks about the wildfires during a briefing on September 14.
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George Coble walks through his destroyed property in Mill City, Oregon, on September 12.
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The Bobcat Fire burns in Angeles National Forest, north of Monrovia, California, on September 11.
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Crystal Sparks kisses her 4-year-old twins, Chance and Ryder Sutton, as they escape the Obenchain Fire in Butte Falls, Oregon, on September 11.
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North Valley Disaster Group member Kari Zeitler and Butte County Animal Control officer Linda Newman bridle up two donkeys wandering along a roadside in Berry Creek, California, on September 11. The donkeys were displaced by the Bear Fire.
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A firefighter shoots an incendiary device during a back burn to help control the Dolan Fire in Big Sur, California, on September 11.
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Dora Negrete is consoled by her son Hector Rocha after seeing their destroyed mobile home in Talent, Oregon, on September 10.
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This aerial photo shows a destroyed mobile-home park in Phoenix, Oregon, on September 10.
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A street is shrouded by smoke from wildfires in West Linn, Oregon, on September 10.
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A tanker jet drops fire retardant to slow the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest north of Monrovia, California, on September 10.
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Looking up San Francisco's Columbus Avenue, the Transamerica Pyramid and Salesforce Tower are covered with smoke from nearby wildfires on September 9. This photo was taken in the late morning.
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Visitors of San Francisco's Dolores Park are seen under an orange sky darkened by smoke on September 9.
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Wildfire smoke hangs over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on September 9.
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Bejhan Razi, a senior building inspector in Mill Valley, California, checks out repairs on a lamp-post clock as the sky is illuminated by nearby wildfires.
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People stand in Alamo Square Park as smoke hangs over San Francisco on September 9.
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People stop to take pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge as it is affected from smoke by nearby wildfires on September 9.
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Firefighters cut defensive lines and light backfires to protect structures in Butte County, California, on September 9.
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Noah Berger/AP
Flames shoot from a home in Butte County.
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A Pacific Gas and Electric worker looks up at the advancing Creek Fire near Alder Springs, California, on September 8.
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Lisa Theis unloads the last of her 44 alpacas after she evacuated her ranch in North Fork, California.
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Flames burn at a home leveled by the Creek Fire in Fresno County, California.
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Noah Berger/AP
A slide is melted at a school playground in Fresno County.
Firefighter Nick Grinstead battles the Creek Fire in Shaver Lake, California, on September 7.
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A firefighter in Jamul, California, battles the Valley Fire on September 6.
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A fire encroaches Japatul Road in Jamul on September 6.
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Little League baseball players warm up for a game near Dehesa, California, as the Valley Fire burns on September 6.
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A firefighter watches the advancing Creek Fire in Shaver Lake.
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A business owner in Shaver Lake walks next to kayaks he rents as smoke from the Creek Fire fills the sky on September 6.
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Family members comfort each other as the El Dorado Fire moves closer to their home in Yucaipa, California, on September 6.
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A firefighter sets a controlled burn with a drip torch while fighting the Creek Fire in Shaver Lake.
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Dozens of evacuees are airlifted to safety on a California National Guard helicopter on September 5. The Creek Fire had left them stranded in a popular camping area in the Sierra National Forest.
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Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP
Firefighters walk in a line in Yucaipa on September 5.
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Haze and smoke blanket the sky near Naches, Washington, as the Evans Canyon Fire burns on September 3.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, right, listens as Santa Cruz State Park Superintendent Chris Spohrer talks about the fire damage to the Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
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Randy Hunt packs up his belongings, including his daughter Natasha's first Pooh bear, left, in case he and his wife Sheli had to evacuate the home they rent in Middletown, California, on August 26.
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Firefighter Juan Chavarin pulls down a burning tree trunk in Guerneville, California, on August 25.
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A sign reading "Vaca Strong" adorns a charred hillside in Vacaville, California, on August 24.
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Austin Giannuzzi cries while embracing relatives at the burned remains of their Vacaville home on August 23.
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Noah Berger/AP
A firefighter looks out from a helicopter while battling the LNU Lightning Complex fires in Lake County, California.
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Flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires leap above Butts Canyon Road in Lake County on August 23.
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Karol Markowski of the South Pasadena Fire Department hoses down hot spots while battling the CZU Lightning Complex fires in Boulder Creek, California, on August 22.
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Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
A burned-out vehicle is left in front of a destroyed residence as smoke fills the sky in Boulder Creek on August 22.
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Smoke hangs low in the air at the Big Basin Redwoods State Park as some redwoods burn in Boulder Creek on August 22.
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A firefighter watches the LNU Lightning Complex fires spread through the Berryessa Estates neighborhood in Napa County on August 21.
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Veterinary technician Brianna Jeter comforts a llama injured by a fire in Vacaville on August 21. At right, animal control officer Dae Kim prepares to euthanize the llama.
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Smoke from nearby wildfires hangs over San Francisco on August 21.
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A firefighter monitors the advance of a fire in Boulder Creek on August 21.
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Members of the US Forest Service discuss their next moves to battle the Grizzly Creek Fire near Dotsero, Colorado, on August 21.
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People pack brown-bag lunches at an evacuation center in Santa Cruz, California, on August 21.
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A smoke plume from the LNU Lightning Complex fires billows over Healdsburg, California, on August 20.
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A firefighter battles flames in Santa Cruz County, California, on August 20.
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Only scorched homes and vehicles remain in the Spanish Flat Mobile Villa in Napa County, California, on August 20.
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Peter Koleckar reacts after seeing multiple homes burned in his neighborhood in Bonny Doon, California, on August 20.
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A forest burns in Bonny Doon on August 20.
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A man looks at a tree blocking his way after a fire ravaged Vacaville, California, on August 20.
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A melted plastic fence lies on the charred ground after fire swept through Vacaville on August 20.
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Sarah Hawkins searches through rubble after her Vacaville home was destroyed on August 20.
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Fire crews maintain a backburn to control the River Fire near the Las Palmas neighborhood in Salinas, California, on August 19.
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Gina Santos cries in her car after evacuating Vacaville on August 19.
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People herd cows down Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville on August 19.
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Flames consume a home in Napa County, California, on August 19.
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Embers burn along a hillside above Lake Berryessa as the LNU Lightning Complex fires tear through Napa County on August 18. This image was taken with a long exposure.
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A resident runs into a home to save a dog while flames from the Hennessy Fire close in near Lake Berryessa on August 18.
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A home burns as the LNU Lightning Complex fires tear through the Spanish Flat community in Napa County on August 18.
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An air tanker drops retardant on fires in the Spanish Flat community of Napa County on August 18.
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Flames from the Hennessy Fire consume a cabin at the Nichelini Family Winery in Napa County on August 18.
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Tony Leonardini works on a spot fire as thunderstorm winds fan the Hennessy Fire in Napa County on August 17.
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Smoke from the Grizzly Creek Fire is thick in Glenwood Canyon, near Glenwood Springs, Colorado, on August 16.
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Kathy Mathison looks at the still-smoldering wildfire on August 16 that, just a day before, came within several feet of her home in Bend, Oregon.
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Firefighters look at smoke and flames rising from the Ranch2 Fire in the San Gabriel Mountains, east of Los Angeles, on August 14.
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A helicopter makes a water drop over the Ranch2 Fire in Azusa, California, on August 13.
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A car is charred by the Lake Fire near Lake Hughes, 60 miles north of Los Angeles, on August 13.
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A couple watches the Ranch2 Fire from a distance on August 13.
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A firefighter crew works in Lake Hughes on August 13.
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The Lake Fire burns a home in Angeles National Forest on August 13.
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Flames and smoke from the Lake Fire rise on Wednesday, August 12.
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A firefighter works against the Lake Fire on August 12.
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Firefighters make an escape plan as the Lake Fire burns a hillside on August 12.
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A tanker makes a drop on the Lake Fire on August 12.
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A plume of smoke rises from the Lake Fire on August 12.
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Chelsea Self/Glenwood Springs Post Independent via AP
Fire crews battle the Grizzly Creek Fire near Glenwood Springs, Colorado, on August 11.
California wildfires have burned more than 2.2 million acres this year
Another significant blaze is the El Dorado Fire in Southern California’s San Bernardino County, which officials say was sparked Saturday morning by a pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party. It had scorched 10,574 acres and was 16% contained as of Tuesday, officials said.
Weather conditions will mean high fire risks from Washington to Arizona – including much of California – into Wednesday. As of Tuesday evening, areas covering almost 39 million people in six Western states were under red flag warnings, which caution that conditions likely to start or spread fires – strong winds and dry conditions – were imminent or happening.
Wind gusts of 30 to 55 mph are possible in parts of California on Wednesday, CNN meteorologists said.
“Wind like this will fuel (fires) and move them along. If you get evacuation notices today, you need to pay attention to them. These fires will be moving very, very quickly,” CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.
At least 87 large wildfires are burning across the United States, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, and California has been the hardest-hit state. More than 4.7 million acres have been burned nationwide so far this year, according to the NIFC.
California hasn’t yet reached what is typically the heart of its fire season, when the notorious Santa Ana winds blow hot, dry air down from inland mountain ranges, adding fuel to an already dangerous recipe for fire.
The frequency of fall days with extreme fire weather conditions in California has more than doubled since the 1980s, driven mainly by climate change, a recent study found.
Hundreds have been rescued from the Creek Fire.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Governor says crisis is because of climate change
California’s governor is pointing directly at climate change as the source of the extreme heat wave and a primary factor in the scores of wildfires plaguing California.
This time last year, California saw 4,927 fires that burned 118,000 acres, the governor said. In 2020, so far there have been 7,606 blazes.
“Wildfires are a big part of the seasonal challenge,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said. “The challenge we’re facing now is the extreme fire events that we believe are climate induced.”
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told CNN it is shocking to the see the impacts of the wildfires in the Western United States, “but not scientifically surprising.”
Swain explained that due to human-caused climate change, temperature extremes are climbing higher and the vegetation is drier, which affects fire behavior.
“But climate change has not just made the extreme heat waves that coincided with the fires worse. The bigger effect is the more subtle, long-term warming,” he said. “That couple of degrees of (average) warming over decades … you don’t notice it as much, but it’s still there lurking in the background, sucking extra moisture out of the vegetation and the soil.”
Swain doesn’t expect conditions to improve soon for California and other Western states. He said they could be “really extreme” for the next two months.
“I don’t see much of a let up,” he said.
Oregon and Washington fighting flames too
California’s neighbors on the West Coast are suffering with fast-moving fires, too.
Oregon’s “unprecedented” wildfires have burned more than 230,000 acres, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate from their homes, while many more are at risk, Gov. Kate Brown said Tuesday.
“In some areas the situation is so difficult and dangerous that even firefighters are being evacuated,” Brown told reporters.
Prison officials evacuated three facilities in the state capital of Salem. A total of 1,450 adult inmates were transferred to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, officials said.
The Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem was one of the prisons evacuated.
Oregon Department of Corrections
The fires are forcing more evacuations in Marion County, the home of Salem, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Marion County Sheriff’s office has issued evacuation notices for the six cities as well as two other areas, a tweet from the agency says.
The nearby Beachie Creek fire has spread to more than 500 acres, according to the US Forest Service. It started August 16 and the cause is unknown, the agency said.
In Washington, about 330,000 acres have burned, Gov. Jay Inslee said.
The state “had more acres burned yesterday than we’ve had in 12 entire fire seasons,” he said Tuesday.
In the small eastern Washington town of Malden, more than 80% of the buildings were destroyed by flames.
“The scale of this disaster really can’t be expressed in words,” Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers said. “The fire will be extinguished, but a community has been changed for a lifetime. I just hope we don’t find the fire took more than homes and buildings. I pray everyone got out in time.”
For the country as a whole, the number of fires recorded and the acreage burned in 2020 are below the 10-year average for the same period, according to NIFC. A total of 41,051 fires have been reported so far this year, while the average number of fires through September 7 over the last 10 years is 43,745, the NIFC says.
The total acreage burned since the beginning of 2020 is 4,729,287, compared with the 10-year average of 5,708,762 acres at this point of the year, the NIFC said.
CNN’s Hollie Silverman, Pierre Meilhan, Konstantin Toropin, Sarah Moon, Pierre Meilhan, Cheri Mossburg, Drew Kann and Joe Sutton contributed to this report.